Democrat's Crap and Trade is a Symptom, not a Solution

 Governor Inslee, Washington State Democrats and climate alarmists at large have successfully thwarted the will of Washingtonians yet again by implementing their carbon $$$ fleecing system since last February (2023).  Much like the mythical $30 dollar car tabs we instructed our public employees to implement which state Democrats quickly nixed, the recently implemented carbon taxing scheme Democrats was also placed before Washington state voters and firmly rejected.  Yet here we are.

This pattern of self serving legislation state Democrats are on is clearly detrimental to the folks they claim to serve leaving we the people left wondering "Why is this happening?"  I've always said if the given justification doesn't fit the excuse given, look around and see what does fit.  The climate change movement, at least from the political standpoint and their stated reasons for their Draconian energy tyranny simply makes no good sense.  Additionally in today's insane political arena, asking politicians to fix ANYTHING permanently has been shown to be an impossibility, and thus making them the least acceptable candidates to take something like this on even it if were a reality.

In my observation, the idea that best fits the far left's behavior has more to do with control, than saving our planet.  Control of resources, control of people, and control of economy.  Because in the end, the carbon trade scheme and taxation, the push to force people to drive heavily subsidized electric vehicles, coupled with the complete lack of, and investment in necessary infrastructures to support such pronouncements demonstrates a lack of planning even American politics wouldn't overlook.

Lately as if it were the icing on the cake of absurdity, Governor Inslee is making noises he and his ilk are planning on price controls for petroleum.  The high costs Democrats have created don't stop with just fuel in this state, so will they be controlling every aspect of the marketplace?  Or will they be enacting even more Draconian economic shackles on society by after first making the mess, will they then continue  creating an even worse problem by thinking they can control the costs of living by forcing their hand on the markets and merchants?

This runaway autonomy Democrats seem to have promises to end badly.  History tells us when culturally, when the poo hits the fan, the elite's don't suffer with their subjects.  Right now is a pivotal moment between tyranny, and American freedom as usual. If Democrats can continue to evade the crystal clear directive our Constitution dictates, soon they will pack the seats of the Supreme Court of the United States as they have at the state level, and our demise will be seal for a time so long as it takes for a revolution to get fed up people free from this real-time act of treason Democrats have embarked on.

An answer to the Rockefeller scenaro...

 

This is purely my imagination:

What if a particular political movement wanted to overtake and over throw a very strong country, but couldn’t using conventional processes? What if they tried for years to convince enough of the populace that the political party they had overrun was more favorable than to the other that more closely followed the traditional beliefs that the country was founded upon?

Imagine if after an 8 year run of one of their implanted political leaders, somehow, the people of the country voted so overwhelmingly they could not stop them from electing a reform leader to reverse the damage their plant did during the 8 years? Then they mounted a very deeply implanted internal plan to frame the new President of being a Russian operative, and claim that the same Russians had “hacked“ the elections of 2016 to get him into office. That too failed and they were found out early on the “Steele Dossier” was pure fiction from a foreign political agent paid by Democrat's seeking to stain the President-Elect.

Next they planned an attempt to frame the president as having dealt wrongly with the Ukrainian government from a phone call that actually had the intent of asking for help finding out the source of some of the plan to frame him as a Russian spy. Democrats went through an entire proceeding of impeachment, and failed to get their plan to gel again.

Dejected, they enlisted the Chinese government, as they knew the Chinese wanted world domination, and sought to have the them release a virus on the world that had been engineered in a lab complete with antidote that would later be released as a vaccine. Democrats hatched a plan to use their state and local operatives to destroy the economy by hampering commerce at all levels until people began to languish financially. And in that way, they believed they would be more likely to lead them by the noses with a few government checks and they could then re-install one of their own in the White House again.

The Democrats own the media , but knew the will of the American people was strong, so even though the corporate media fed the public lying polls, and ignored the scandalous behavior from their candidate, they needed to make sure the reform President wasn’t re-elected. They again called on the Chinese and a long time enemy of the USA and Western society, named George Soros.

The Democrats had used software to manipulate elections on a local scale for years but knew they couldn’t pull it off in a close national election, but this was different, they HAD to win at all costs. So they had the companies controlled by globalists and manufactured by the Chinese, set algorithms in the counting routines that would not let the odds get into the Republican candidate’s favor.

On election night they found the vote was again to overwhelming for Donald Trump. Something had to be done. Their last-ditch option had to be executed. They had to stop the counting, and insert numbers that would ensure the appearance of a Biden victory. Yes it would be obvious, but they have the press in their pocket and American’s have a very short span of attention, especially when they hurting financially.

They executed their plan to steal the election in broad daylight, or night light, that is, but again they were caught. All they had left was to use cover of the corporate press, and the liberal social media censoring any talk of the overwhelming evidence until they could gain power long enough to pack the supreme court with leftist activists as they knew they could then rule with an iron fist…

More of my scenario to come....

Analyzing America: How did we wind up this way?

In my quest to discern the causation of the relatively recent decline in American unity, and the ruthless division between the citizenry that now identifies each American by political belief, rather than being a fellow comrade of the same country, I believe I am much closer to a definitive answer.

As a Believer in our Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, I have read, and been brought up steeped in the Word's of our Creator from the Bible.  I find the Holy Bible to be the most concise work on Earth  describing human behavior, and providing the cure for it's ills, along with instructions how to live it to the fullest as we prepare for the afterlife with The Almighty.  It is there I have found what I believe is the explanation why we are headed south as a country.

In a word, Godlessness.  Allow me to explain.

Try as some may to refute, or revise the notion, we are a Godly nation, or at least have the roots of being one.  The evidences are too overwhelming, and undeniable to those that know, and understand history.  The further we travel back in time historically, the more we find how adherent the populace was to Godly morality, and ethical behavior.

There are many examples, but for the sake of blog size and reader attention, I will stick to one example to bolster my case...

God's Word is replete with commands, and instructions how to live a life pleasing to God.  The ten commandments begin with a statement, and two commands that we are to worship God, and Him alone.  The same list of commands end with the last three commanding us not to "covet".

The beginning and ending of the commandments illustrate how Godly living should start, and the results of a non Godly lifestyle ends, and not to wind up that way.  Covetousness is the result of self worship, or selfishness, being self centered, or putting self ahead of anything else.  You get the picture.  God knows, left to our own means we are creatures of vain glory, or lovers of self.  God began His commandments to the Israelites by stating up front He Was God, and Him only, beside Him, there was no other.  Then He commands us not to have or worship any idols, or graven images.

If we choose to not acknowledge God as number one in our lives we are effectively putting our will above His, and in many cases make us, or our wishes our "idol".  When our every wish becomes our only focus, we seek to do our own bidding always which leads ultimately to greed, or covetousness.  We may protest and say we seek to help others regularly, but as unGodly people, we do so primarily under our terms, at our convenience, and most times to make us feel better about ourselves.

Having said all that, I believe the same quandary belongs to modern day America.  As we as a nation decide to remove God from our governing institutions, and turn our faces from Him as a people, we begin to worship self, and become covetous.  No more glaring example can be seen than by observing the Marxist, or socialist propaganda that seeks to pit American, against American, and begins by separating people into classes of wealth, except (of course) those in government, apparently they get immunity, as they are the arbiters of said collectivism.

Socialism/Communism has always carried the stigma of active anti-God sympathies.  The ideology replaces the wisdom of God, with man's wisdom, and worships it supreme, and ridicules things of God, and His followers.

I know this must sound condescending and smug, but my intention is nothing of the sort, I am simply outlining the human condition, and it left to it's own resources apart from the Almighty.  Believe me when I say, I too am afflicted with the battles of the flesh, the only difference being as a Believer, I am not a slave to them, and more importantly in God's Eyes, I am sanctified, and forgiven, not by my own doing, but by Faith in Christ Jesus.

But I digress, the self centeredness of a life absent of Godly living, and a belief in God produces exactly what I think would describe the problem in our culture today.  Selfishness will not tolerate opinions of others, and believes it's own views are the only relevant beliefs.  Coveting other's wealth, lifestyle, and societal position are symptoms as well.

The blurred lines between the sexes and sexual partnership are a result of open rebellion toward God, the Apostle Paul wrote extensively to the church at Rome in the 1st chapter of the perils of rejecting God, and the resulting sexual deviancy that His "turning them over to their sinful desires" resulted in.

The sexual revolution of the 1960's, and the homosexual revolution of the 1980's, and 90's were precursors to the trans-sexual revolution of the early 21st century, with the acceptance of pedophilia not far behind further prove  Paul's point that rejecting God brings a seared conscious, and a reprobate mind is demonstrated in the sexual deviancy that is so pervasive in our land today.

We Americans have perfected the art of dodging self responsibility while solidifying the ability to carry out sin with no societal impunity.  Sigmund Freud popularized the notion that our bad behavior, and the results we reap are not our fault, but were our parents fault.  Others have built on the idea by including things like alcoholism, obesity, and homosexuality as being a disease, or a matter of genetics.

The Bible is clear the roots sin (disobedience to God) always come from within man, not of external forces. (Mark 7:21-23)  So again, like a book we humans can be read easily by our actions with, or without allegiance to God.

The Godly life marked by selfless attitudes due to a Christ-centered lifestyle, and the Godless life, replacing God Almighty with self as god of our lives, and the resulting selfishness, and anger when we don't get our way.

The answer to return our fair land to it's original healthy state is to turn our face as a nation to God, and return to following our Constitution that was so brilliantly set up to keep our land free, and guarantee us never being subject to tyrannical powers so long as we follow it's laws.

Tell me again why we need more government?

Have you ever considered in Grays harbor County, and more specifically, in the Elma area, the homeowner pays about $13.73 per thousand dollars of their home and all properties value to the state and local government?  Which means if you own a home worth $275,000 dollars, you pay $3,432.50 dollars to the county annually.  Over the course of living at your home for say 20 years that totals $68,650 dollars, which is more than likely more money than your initial investment in the property alone.  The property tax cost per month for a $250,000 dollar home or real estate in Elma is $286 dollars and some change. 

*** On a side note my first home mortgage payment was $300.00 dollars a month.

Also, in Elma we the consumer pay nearly 10% of our money spent on goods and services (8.8%).  That equals out to... let’s say, the average household spends $14,000 dollars on miscellaneous sales taxable stuff per year, we would be paying about another $1200 dollars a year to state and local government.

In our state of Washington, the state and federal government levy a tax of about $.63 cents a gallon of fuel we use in our autos.  IDK what the average Elmanite travels per year, but the feds say the average person racks up about 16,550 miles a year on their rigs, so for a family of 2 my guess is somewhere around 20k miles per household give or take.  So at an average of 20 MPG, that roughs out to 1000 gallons per year which would have us paying $630 dollars per year, per household, on average to the state and feds just to drive on the roads, barring any tolls, or special projects where they add more to our licence tabs and so forth.

Then there are income taxes, the average marginal income tax range is loosely 21.5% in the USA, which I know drastically differs between the levels of income.  For an interesting, and enlightening read go here:
https://taxfoundation.org/how-much-do-people-pay-taxes/

At any rate  if a household of two working members $100K per year with an adjusted gross income of say $80K, which might be too low on average, we pay about $17,200 dollars and some change to the federal government per year.

I was just thinking as I start down the path of building a home on my fresh pristine real estate for myself and my bride of 33 years to sail off into the sunset of our lives, how stinking much money it costs to live, and what we have received in return over the years for out tax investments, and the exponentially multiplied taxation costs the next generation has to look forward to as they embark on a life of home owning.

You all can do the math, and it comes up to a staggering amount of our hard earned dough to live simply paying taxes upon taxes, let alone the costs of goods, services, shelter, travel, medical expenses, and a host of other consequential expenses. 

As I ponder the sheer immensity of the portion of our collective incomes we pay and pay to state, local, and federal government, the thought of those that would pee and moan at the idea of a government leader, or political party that seeks to give we the people relief from the crushing weight of the taxation we are burdened with, I simply do not think they are clear as to whom the source of our loss of prosperity is owed.

The evil rich cannot come into our lives and strip as much income from us as our own governments can, and do.  Nor would there be a problem with the wages we are paid if we were not paying close to half of it to government interests either.  I don’t think those that blame evil corporations for wealth inequality realize, the individuals behind those evil corporations pay another 13% more in personal income taxes than we do on average, and the top 1% of income earners pay nearly half the total yearly income taxes collected.   That means, the top 1% that get blamed for all things evil in our land pay more in taxes than the lower 90% combined!  This is by our own government statistics.

***Another side note:  if those nasty rich receive tax relief through loopholes, you can look no further than the same government we pay, and pay for supplying the loopholes by which the evil rich are able to use.

I have recounted all this simply to ask my left leaning friends why in the name of all things sacred, do they think more government, and more government involvement in our lives is the answer to the ills they perceive to be dogging us in these days?  It would seem to me, if anyone cared to take a deeper look at what makes our lives cost more, the root is the cost of taxation, we all pass on to the next guy, an so on, and so on, until it lands in we the consumer’s laps to pick up the tab.

Do me a favor, and give it a think for even the tiniest of moment’s how the natural progression REALLY is, not what the media, or politicians tell you.  Think for yourself, get informed…

Please.  (With sugar on it…)

A Case for Less government Involvement that Helps Us and Them

There are many reasons for smaller government, the ones I want to touch on are all impediments to property owners and government administrators that places unnecessary financial burden, and wasted time constraints on them.

Doing construction on one's own property is one such concern.  I am not saying it should be a free for all, just remove the redundancy.  As it stands, many activities, and construction must be monetized to state and local governments in the form of permissions.  There are many routine projects that need only 1 organization signing off on it, not several.  And not many permissions, just one.

Take for instance, a homeowner, wanting to put an outbuilding next to his home.  Our county has the prospective builder firstly pay for a C.L.E.A.R. permit which stands for comprehensive land use and environmental review.  This encompasses everything from excavation, wetlands, well use, placement of buildings...you name it.  This is a recently new addition to the permission process and boiled down equates to an early alarm for any governmental agencies that may take issue with anything on your property.  That in and of itself is not my primary point of contention.

I can speak from experience, as I recently went through this process.  The CLEAR review in my case invoked the attention to a culvert that dumped onto my property from the land above me, and deposited a flow of water when it rained profusely, The rest of the time...nothing.  Visa vi the CLEAR review, this occasional posit of water became noted as a "type N non-fish bearing stream".  It had no visible bed, or path, as the grass over grows it's passage during the non down-pouring times, nonetheless, the powers that be only understood from the CLEAR document it was indeed a stream.

Now, in order to put a driveway across what I would call a ditch where the occasional flow of water travels, here are the permissions I had to get:

Grays Harbor County -
Perform work in the county right of way permit,  waiver to perform work in a stream bed (ditch), a driveway permit, and address, and another permit for the fire district to ensure the turn around was properly installed.  Additionally, I hired an environmental biologist to the tune of $1000 dollars to ensure the part time ditch stayed that way and some smart character didn't try to argue it was any more than it's classification from behind a desk. Each of these had a significant fee associated with it.  I do not have the individual figures present at the time of this writing, but suffice it to say, each itemized charge will make you roll your eyes at the very least.

Next, the Department of Fish and Wild life - After all the hoopla with the county, I had yet to acquire permission to place a culvert in the ditch under the proposed driveway.  This was the only one permission from them I needed. Yet had I not fit the criteria of "expedited" due in large part to running out of decent weather, and the threat of creating mud in the ditch, I would've had undergone a SEPA review.  SEPA (State Environmental Protection Review) is similar to CLEAR in that it alerts even more agencies to environmental aspects of your project.  I won't go into the details of it, as I escaped it by the skin of my teeth, but that bad boy packs a 30 day wait and much more cost and detail...(YUCH!).

So I made it through all that to the cost of roughly $750 dollars, not including the grand for the environmental biologist.  All this just to put in a driveway culvert, this is not even beginning to cover the actual cost of the driveway, culvert and equipment to do the job.

The part I was troubled with, beside the cost, was the time and redundancy of it all.  These are pretty routine things and shouldn't take the time and monetary resources of taxpayers and government employees.  The time for government employees could be much better spent on the truly difficult to manage projects out there, rather than these basic ones.  Honestly, the difference of my procedure of installing a driveway and culvert differed in no way from my original plan to the installation after all the government involvement.  It wasted my time, and theirs, only they got paid.

Make no mistake, I have the highest respect for State an local government insofar as managing big projects, but I loathe the idea of being fleeced for something I know full well how to do and I know is not damaging the environment by doing so. I expect by experiencing how far behind the state and county agencies were in their response times, they too are sick of chasing the "small fish".

I spoke with two high ranking officials about the redundancy of the process on small projects and the waste of resources and manpower it invokes, one at the state level, and the other from the county.  Surprisingly, they both agreed, and had ideas formed to combat this very thing, unfortunately implementation is quite another story.  The government entities are addicted to money and are quite unwilling to part with the means of getting it even if the means are inefficient.

This, to me is where small procedural changes here and there could drastically improve our economy, and efficiency, as the administrators could focus on actual problematic projects, rather than the minutia that can for the most part take care of itself with little government intervention, and/or oversight.

Keeping Knowledge Over Emotion, or How We Can Save Our Country In One Easy Step

What is intelligence? In Standard English usage ’intelligence’ is understood as "the ability to learn or understand from experience or to respond successfully to new experiences"

 What is emotion or feeling? In standard usage, the term ’emotion’ is used to designate "a state of consciousness having to do with the arousal of feelings (Webster’s New World Dictionary)." It is "distinguished from other mental states, from cognition, volition, and awareness of physical sensation." Feeling refers to "any of the subjective reactions, pleasant or unpleasant" that one may experience in a situation.

In my 57 years of life on planet Earth, the distinction between the two has become very important in understanding how to deal with life's curve balls it may throw you. In understanding how our Creator interacts with us, and how His laws of nature, and human nature follow very traceable patterns. Our emotions and knowledge play a direct role as to how we cope, and the success we have at dealing with life's problems.

In religious belief, as it is in political belief, the same dynamic applies. If we are led by our emotions, we are only as strong as our emotional state is, but if we remain steadfast in what we know to be true from God's Word, and history, we can be successful in overcoming adversity.

Understanding and acknowledging simple truths are the first step to success. As civilizations go, disunity has always led to a weakened cultural state. Strife has always led to conflict, and conflict to war. The same goes for leadership, corrupt leaders lead to the fall of civilizations, unless they are quickly replaced by honest leaders. To those that believe, and understand God's Word, also note historically that when a nation deliberately departs from the worship and acknowledgement of it's Creator, the result is lost favor, and punishment. The Jewish people are a prime example, although they are God's chosen people, they did not escape His Wrath when they deserted Him.

It is my prayer for this country that we retreat from the emotional pleas of liberalism, and of doing things on the basis of how something feels, and only exhibiting acts of symbolism, that appease our emotion on a short term basis, but never solve problems and instead return to behavior that we know to be true and effective historically.

And if we understand as believer's that we wrestle not against flesh and blood, but against principalities, against powers, against the rulers of the darkness of this world, and against spiritual wickedness in high places, we know that those same evil powers love to see us at each other's throats.
Discipline is never fun, but it is necessary. Heeding known causes and effects is the beginning of knowledge, that's why older people can be good counsel for us young people, as they have experienced more life than we have.

My Idea and Arguments For the New Elma Stadium

My idea for the Elma Stadium isn’t a new one, but I will share the reasons why I think it is a good choice. I like the $3.4 million idea of building the stadium and field in it’s same footprint using real grass. Here are my reasons:
By building in the same spot it will effectively reduce the cost by half of the original proposal. The previous proposal gave me the impression in addition to the relocation of the stadium to a spot not near the high school, there would be room left in the plan for a track and sports facility for future consideration. To me this would leave an open ended solution that would eventually require more levy’s to be run to add more and more, or at the very least more school district expenditures to build additional facilities that are already present at the High School. If after 3 tries, this is such a hard sell to the public (for whatever reason) then, maybe asking the taxpayers to approve a proposition that will be followed up by possibly additional facilities, new artificial turf every 10 years, and the addition of commuting the kids to and fro to practice and the general separation from the High School grounds, we may be faced with the reality that this just isn’t the time for this plan. Considering the past 10 year economic, and employment history of the Elma area, and the east Grays Harbor County, it might not be wise to burden the tax paying public with a long term payment for a large and separate facility, and expect them to warm up to future levys. As I have said before, using the monies saved from the use of real grass, the monies could go to separate practice fields to alleviate the field from overuse due to practicing on it. The figure of $50,000 per year to maintain real turf has been touted, as you know once a system of maintenance has been established the additional cast would be less to maintain the additional practice fields using the same equipment, and personnel, possibly for almost the same budget. And finally, if we offer the public a proposal that simply replaces the stadium, and field in it’s same location, the likelihood of dissension is far, far less than the public seeing a plan that seeks to re-invent the wheel so to speak, and create a separate facility. The fact that the stadium needs to be rebuilt is indisputable, rebuilding it in it’s same spot as close to it’s original state is a hard proposal to balk at. For this reason I believe this is the best course of action. That is not to say we can’t look at artificial turf and raising the field down the road. I believe this would serve our kids and the taxpayers well, and get us back on track. Thanks for reading this, and be sure to let me know if I have anything wrong.

This came to me from the Elma School District and I think it is very helpful in
understanding how the cost's of levies are determined and the assurance that our
school district is watching out for the taxpayers as well as it's students:

Elma school District: A History of Fiscal Responsibility

There have been a number of issues that have been broached during the bond
campaign. One of these issues is the cost of the stadium and bonds. The funding of
schools in this state is found to be so lacking that  the Washington Supreme Court
found the Legislature to be remiss in its duty to fully fund its schools. This was
largely caused by the way our schools are funded (through local property tax levies)
which are inherently unfair to districts and tax payers who do not live in property
rich districts such as Seattle, Bellevue 0r Mercer Island. Those districts are able to
supplement their budgets through levies that generate much more money for their
students, while actually creating lower burdens on their taxpayers than in districts
such as Elma or McCleary.

This situation would be worsened, were it not for the fact that this district has a
history of fiscal responsibility when it comes to its management of bond debt and
levy conservation. This fiscal restraint is to be lauded. Thanks are extended to the
School Boards, the superintendents and the business manager during this time, Lisa
Arnold. Elma School District had several outstanding bonds at the start of the 2002
calendar year. By re-funding the bonds at that time, debt that was due to expire in
2015, instead was retired in 2010 saving the citizens hundreds of thousands of
dollars.

In addition, during the 2012 calendar year, a ruling caused the District to be ordered
to repay almost $535,000 to Grays Harbor Energy after they prevailed in a lawsuit
over what they had been assessed. Grays Harbor County chose to levy taxes to repay
the amount as did many other taxing entities affected by this ruling. Elma School
District did not. The money saved from repaying the bonds early remained in our
Debt Service account where it could be used to repay the over taxing of the Energy
company. Please know that we understand that all our dollars are public dollars and
we appreciate the financial and many facets of support our community provides for
us.

The final example official responsibility is in regards to the Transportation
Cooperative Building, which pending state approval, is scheduled to begin
construction in 2016. In the fall of 2011, the District asked the voters to fund this
building along with a stadium. After the issue failed, the District continued to work
through other channels to secure state funding, and then managed its own resources
to provide a smaller share, and as a result we are scheduled to be the home of a
transportation cooperative for the McCleary and Oakville districts, along with
Educational Service District 113's Head Start Program. This cooperative will allow
the district to function more economically than we do currently and provide more
and better services to our students as a result.

We prepared this document to ensure that our community understands we are good
stewards of public monies. We regret that the funding system in our state is such
that we must ask for your financial support every two years. But please know that
we never take for granted how valued these dollars are, and at what price they are
provided to us. Thank you, Elma for your support, your caring and your
commitment to help us get better every day.

Another Idea for the Elma High School Stadium

I am writing today to share my thoughts regarding the Elma Stadium and football field that the school district is asking the taxpayers to pay for. Rather than listing all the negative things I have to say about the current proposal, I feel like I would be much better served to look at this in a more constructive way. Several weeks back I wrote an email to Superintendent Acuff. much to my surprise later that very afternoon he came over to my business and sat down with my wife and I for roughly an hour and explained the school district's proposal for a new Stadium and ball field. I wish to thank superintendent Acuff for taking the time out of his busy schedule to come and speak personally to me about this. Among other things, he shared with me the school district’s different ideas that they had mulled over before arriving at the one that they have now. One idea was to rebuild on the same spot the Stadium and football field was located before it was demolished, another idea was putting the Stadium in the same area that the High School parking lot is now. yet another was to put the grandstand next to the track where the bleachers are now and have that as the football field. And finally, and ultimately, the idea to put the Stadium, football field, and leaving room for a track and other things next to the grade school. So now I come to the part where I have questions. Again, rather than picking apart the district’s plan, I would much rather ask a few of my own questions. I was told that by locating the Stadium in the same spot it was before, FEMA demanded that it be raised 5 feet higher than it was previously. Also superintendent Acuff reminded me that the football field In its current spot, was very muddy and not very usable by the end of the football season. He also said the cost would be about ten million dollars to locate the stadium in the exact same spot. He said the district had hired two separate independent engineers to review these plans just so there could be no accusation that one engineer wanted to have it his way. Also I understood that having artificial turf meant having to replace it every 10 years at a cost of $1 000,000, at today's rate. In addition, the maintenance of a grass football field would cost roughly $50,000 a year, which would indeed be less expensive than the artificial turf. However, the common thought was that if all sports teams played on the football field throughout the year, it wouldn't last the season if it were a natural turf, that's why the idea for artificial turf was left in the plan. My questions are these: Two things are true, the school district needs a new stadium, and, the taxpayers need to be thought of, so as not to overtax them. Could it be possible, that there would be a more frugal way to look at relocating the football field and stadium to its original spot? If indeed it would cost the school district via the taxpayers, $1,000,000.00 every 10 years for artificial turf, using the savings of natural turf, could we not build separate practice fields with the money saved, and pay the extra cost to raise the stadium 60 inches in the long term? So, my thoughts are like this: if it cost $50,000 a year to maintain a grass football field x 10 years, that is a total of $500,000. So in my way of thinking that leaves a difference of $500,000 every 10 years that could be spent on practice fields, the cost to lift the stadium 60 inches,resurface the old playing field, and at some point it would be paid off, relieving the taxpayers of having to pay $1,000,000 dollars every 10 years for eternity, plus, any other levies or needs the school district may have could be dealt with without piling more tax debt on the rate payers. I am as excited as the next man to see Elma get a new stadium. I also am excited as the next man to take good care of our taxpayers should the economy not be as robust as it is now down the road. I feel like being conservative when spending the taxpayers money will leave us in much better shape in the future for other capital outlays. So, at this time, I am more inclined to pass on the current offer the school district has for the stadium and football field, and ask them to go back to the drawing board, and give us an option that includes using the money saved from the absence of artificial turf to pay for an alternative practice field, and build the stadium in its original location. I hope all that read this will understand I am NOT against athletic’s or any extracurricular activities. I am however, very conscious of the financial burden we place on our taxpayers and spending money wisely. I would like to see an alternative offering that uses the monies saved by not using artificial turf, to pay for practice fields, the additional 60 inch lift the stadium, and repairing and making better drainage for the existing field in it's current location.  

My overview of Bernie Sanders "Agenda for America"

Here is my overview of Bernie Sanders "Agenda for America" as put forth at: http://www.sanders.senate.gov/agenda/.  I hope to review it politely, and with consideration.

1.Rebuilding Our Crumbling Infrastructure
Infrastructure is an important component in any industrialized nation.  In our case keeping it in top shape is very important.  Sending money to Washington DC and back to the states is not prudent, or Constitutional.  Let the states deal with the states, and the Interstate infrastructure be maintained by the Feds.

2.Reversing Climate Change
Climate Change is not a closed science regardless of what pundits on the left say.  It is a political football to advance a leftist agenda in it's present depiction.  Being good stewards of the earth and it's resources is also a critical agenda to pursue.  Ignoring proven advancements like clean coal, and other sources of energy that can improve the environment is irresponsible.  There is a balance that can be had that advances the living standards of Americans and makes us more responsible citizens.  Following a globalist anti free-market agenda disguised as "Climate Change" is not.

3.Creating Worker Co-ops
This is a construct where central government gets their hands in the private sector economic engine, and need not be.  The best thing for our government to do at this time is get out of the entrepreneur's way and let business build and proliferate.  If anything, building constructs with government regulation will be a recipe to repeat government efficiency.

4.Growing the Trade Union Movement
Nothing wrong with having trade unions, so long as they are at the worker's discretion.  The individual knows far better than government their needs and requirements.  Forcing people do do anything breeds resentment.  If industry proliferates, there effectively is no need for unions as the competition for workers will drive higher wages.  To force higher wages where there is no market kills industry and jobs.

5. Raising the Minimum Wage
No one in the real world expects anyone to live on minimum wages.  The reason the wages are stagnated and low, are we have a vastly understated unemployment rate and a higher than reported lack of job participation.  Again, increase industry, and wages will rise with demand for workers.  Forcing more money from markets that are stagnated as well is a sure fire way to lose employment and depress the markets even further.

6.Pay Equity for Women Workers
This is a highly publicized and dicey subject.  There are some industries that pay women more as they are suited for it more than men, conversely there are industries the do the opposite.  The problem is not as wide spread as we are led to believe, but still exists in some cases, and a blanket policy is not the answer.  Again this is a case of Federal government over stepping it's Constitutional boundaries, and an issue that should be left to the states as they are much closer to the problem as it differs from state to state.

7.Trade Policies that Benefit American Workers
I agree as stated.

8. Making College Affordable for All
Greater focus on trade schooling would be a welcome alternative to full blown university accreditation's replete with prerequisites that aren't necessary for many people.  Hate to beat a dead horse, but if our economy were booming we wouldn't be having this discussion.  We could focus on the poor and under funded enrollment in college.

9.Taking on Wall Street
As Ronald Reagan said "In this present economy, government is not a solution to our problem, government is the problem."  The Wall Street power brokerage is deeply ingrained in our Federal government.  Before we can ever hope to clean up Wall Street, we must eliminate the tie to government that exists.  This is an epidemic that is  the crux of our economic dependence on Wall Street.  We need more private industry, less dependence on printed money supported Wall Street.

10.Health Care as a Right for All
Almost a carbon copy of the above, with the caveat that this too is not an area Federal government should be dabbling in.  This should be left to the States and getting the Feds out of our medicine.  If we had the discipline to remove government from regulating medicine, it would become more affordable as it was in the mid 1900's.

11.Protecting the Most Vulnerable Americans
All societies have the poor to contend with.  In the USA prior to government over reach, private sector benevolence surpassed anything the government does today, and with much more efficiency, and efficacy.  Government intrusion is the problem.  We can address benevolence in a much more accurate way at a local level in the private sector if we can break the bonds of big government.

12.Real Tax Reform
Without decrying "income inequality" or what ever personal belief one may have of the evils of their perception of our economy, one fact is accurate, and true, our method of taxation is a mess.  Again it has been authored by...you know who? And in similar fashion to anything else that government gets involved in.  A flat tax, or use (sales) tax, or anything that is a proportionate form of taxation that favors or gives no exceptions to anyone via cronyism is a welcome alternative.

The overarching theme you can see here is that with government trying to provide and force it's edicts on us, would be much more efficiently, and exponentially less expensive and offensive if done locally by the citizenry of America.  That is precisely what made America great in the first place.  Bottom line: we must preserve individuality and individual liberty if we are to bring our country back online and not commit the same mistakes history has taught us of the deaths of republics having been witnessed so many times over.

It's Not The System That's Broken...

Our country didn't amass it's greatness by chance. No, it didn't always rape and pillage other less developed countries for their resources either. We used to actually encourage free democratic society where there wasn't any, and help it where it was weak.  Our system of government as aptly described in detail in our Constitution, works supremely as evidenced by the great success a glance back at history will clearly reflect.

So what has changed that makes some young people (and some older that should know better) ready to give up their birthrights and follow two-bit socialist snake oil salesmen? Is it their rhetoric of socking it to the rich, and empowering government even more and thereby promising prosperity for the middle class? Common sense and history should send the red flags a flying. Especially with the real-time demonstration we have of how corrupt, and closely connected government is to big business these days.

The true nature of our problem is moral decline in a country that used to hold to a moral and ethical standard that was modeled by our Creator, which is at the very heart of our nation's founding. The level of virtue was first kept at a personal level, which bled over to corporate and government bodies.  Almost since it's inception there have been forces at work trying to use our legal system to evict God from the United States. In my lifetime it has been evidenced at an accelerated rate since the early 1960's.

In the absence of personal virtue, and the ensuing amoral atmosphere, people are inclined to try to legislate behavior at every turn to compensate for the lack of a personal moral compass. They believe a law for everything is the answer. The trouble is with a morally bankrupt government, the law enforcement is subject to the benefit of the enforcer, not the people demanding the law.

The abandoning of morality and a declining society is a historically repeated and identifiable cycle shown by the demise of the Greeks, Romans, and even more recently, Soviet Russia, to name a few. With the absence of a moral foundation, such as Biblical Christianity, there is no suitable source from which to draw virtuous behavior. The result of a moral vacuum is the need for more and more laws to replace lost personal virtue, and a society that searches for a new system of rule that "works" which historically ends in a worse system, loss of freedom, and societal decline to the point the country, or people are absorbed or taken over by a more powerful one, purely because the root problem was never dealt with.

I digress, the very laws and ideologies that we chase after to put in place are supposed to be maintained and implemented by the same corrupt government that has empowered corporate injustices in the first place. Politicians these days are primarily engaged in staying elected, and self aggrandizement. To give them more power, is not the correct remedy to our predicament. Making them as insignificant as possible is. But doing so would be all for naught if we as a people don't have a moral and virtuous personal life. Evicting our Creator from a country that was founded for His sake and His principles will only serve to move us in a direction of decline, no matter what we may try.

The answer: Immersing yourself in His Word, stand strong and boldly for His principles, always in love and humility, and not wavering. The most important, is having and maintaining a personal relationship with our risen Lord and Savior Jesus Christ, and praying to Him daily for our falling nation. If the majority of people would do that, we could see revival like in the days of Nineveh.  If only a minority participate, we must still stay vigilant, and take as many with us to an eternity with God as possible.

Do you really?

The law protecting religious freedom in Indiana is being grotesquely misrepresented in the media, and in some liberal circles.  Allow me to clarify:
Before I do just that please allow me to ask two questions of you.

1. Do you want to eliminate discrimination in our society?
2. Do you really?

The Religious Freedom Restoration Act was sponsored by Chuck Schumer in 1993 and enacted by Bill Clinton after its passage.  It has nothing to do with discrimination, and all to do with preserving religious liberty.

The angst you hear from celebrities, the press, and liberal politicians, even Mrs. Clinton, is not directed at the practice of all religions, it is directed at Christianity.  Christianity believes The Bible as God’s Word, and is clear on what is and isn’t disobedience to Him.  It’s called sin.  Among the sins listed is homosexuality, again amongst others.  One example is found in 1 Corinthians 6:9-11, “Do not be deceived: Neither the sexually immoral nor idolaters nor adulterers nor male prostitutes nor homosexual offenders nor thieves nor the greedy nor drunkards nor slanderers nor swindlers will inherit the kingdom of God".

To be clear, nowhere in the bible does it condone, or instruct the believer to socially discriminate against others.  The Bible does say to be in this world, but not of this world system.  Jesus also said:  “You have heard that it was said, ‘Love your neighbor and hate your enemy.’ But I tell you, love your enemies and pray for those who persecute you…”
What the RFRA act Bill Clinton enacted does, is allow a citizen’s religious beliefs to remain sacred.  And if, for instance if two homosexuals approach a caterer, or preacher, or such to perform or host their union ceremony, they can decline.  The homosexuals can still pursue their union elsewhere.  No discrimination, they are free to act as they want.

The only suggestion of discrimination in this situation is coming from the bill’s opponents, and criticizers, which I find very strange as they also seem to be claiming to be against discrimination, but are perfectly willing to incite discrimination toward religious belief.
If you are someone that thinks I am wrong, I would refer you to questions 1 and 2. “Woe to those who call evil good and good evil, who put darkness for light and light for darkness, who put bitter for sweet and sweet for bitter”.  Isaiah 5:20

DM 

Spirited Debate is Great!

I love the spirited debate on Facebook.  I have had some of the most vigorous debates with my friends on Facebook, the kind that makes you dig and dig for truth.  I have never formally learned the art of debating, and hence, my colleagues on FB probably do face plants in the palms of their collective hands as we discuss the topics at hand.  I have come to use my own brand of understanding a given subject, which admittedly is probably flawed, but for the most part, has served well these 56 odd years.

To me when looking a  political issue, I realize that the elected officials we have in office have little time to become an expert on any one given topic, yet the preach their stance as if they had invented them.  Given this understanding one has only to look at the motivations they have to promote any given issue.  

For instance, the Global Warming debate:  Any thinking person should realize that no matter what is happening with regard to weather patterns, temperature, or even the spheres of atmosphere, we humans have not been keeping track of the patterns of weather, or the atmosphere for long enough to pronounce such drastic judgments and propose to inflict so much hardship on our own species, all in the name of “saving the earth”.  I have read several accounts of the evidences that warming and cooling trends have probably happened long, long ago before man had become industrialized, and there is probably something credible found in the claims, just as today’s Global Warming scientists claims.  

But to me, using the common sense approach, and my understanding of scientific discovery and study, the “science” we are akin to today surrounding the GW movement, is not based on the study of any phenomena, as much as it is the defense and promotion of a particular view.
Again, back to the politicians and their motives… When an idea like the theory of GW is first postulated, it is naturally looked at skeptically, as is any theory thrown out for consideration, as that is my understanding of science. That it is the strengthening of a theory by the systematic tearing down of it by coming at it from all angles to attempt to disprove it that makes it become a strong working scientific hypothesis.  So we come to the politician test:  How does a theory all of a sudden become gospel to the scientific community?  What would make a portion of the scientific community promote the theory of GW and abandon the act of looking at it objectively and scientifically to the point, that they and one political party are nearly synonymous on their pursuit to make GW a real truth?

I think the answer lies in the science of human behavior, rather than in Global Warming.  As I have made reference to many times before, this is not America’s first climatic rodeo.  In the last century there were at least 56 different major newspaper headlines declaring the onset of either an ice age or melt down from the early 1900’s to present.  The current craze of “climate change” wasn’t very popular until the news media realized that by promoting and demagoguing something as omnipresent as the weather, they had a cash cow that had massive shelf life.  The political scene soon found their piece in the part of promoting it by doing what they do best:  promoting a system of taxation and control to save us from the unproven theory.  Then the need for more ammunition for the movement, and the government grant money began flowing, and the government did again what they are good at: spending our money…  So in a scientific sense it is far more profitable to find in favor of GW than against it.  And, “viola!” we have the current fervor of today, and the thousands of willing tools in the citizenry that help carry it along for the media and geo-politicians.  What a perfect vessel for all…  All except the average person that has to pay the bill for an imaginary crisis.

But I digress, that is why it is vitally important to discuss the dynamic of what makes a theory or policy work, not just post a link to a new site and quote a headline.  If raising taxes on the populace is the formula for a robust economy, than let’s discuss how that happens.  If the Tea Party is really a racist bunch of terrorists, let’s cite examples and discuss their ideology.  My recent favorite is to list negative things that happened during a president or whoever’s term, and attribute them to the given individual’s policies, regardless of how much good, was done, even if it surpassed the negatives in their term, or even ignoring the possibilities that the negatives came as a result of previous policies enacted before their tenure.  These and other statements given, with no working dynamic to illustrate why, are a sad testimony to our culture.  If we demanded of ourselves that we understood why we believed, what we believe, rather than riding the emotional roller coaster, and public opinion, I believe we would reduce the current division, and actually heal our land to a certain degree.
Imagine if we had a nation of concerned rational people that thought for themselves, and not being content to be “first stage” thinkers, imagine how prosperous we could be.  Imagine how utterly unimportant and unnecessary a big bloated government would become…

Obamacare is symptomatic...

Even if one totally disregards the problems concerning the signing up phase of Obamacare, the numbers of Americans that are signing up via the more functional state run exchanges are by and large signing up as Medicare recipients.   I am not trying to impugn those on government assistance, however this seems to be coming as a surprise to some Obama acolytes, but in reality, is just another confirmation to those of us that have been warning that the 7-8% unemployment rate that is constantly touted by team Obama and the media is totally false,   The true numbers should be derived including the people that have stopped searching for employment and entered the roles of government dependence.  If they were included, a more accurate unemployment rate would be closer to 15-18%, depending on whose figures you use.  Again, the point is not to malign the people dependent on government support, just pointing out that like in free market private insurance companies, healthy, working people must be enrolled in sufficient numbers for the system to work.    It’s not a matter of mean spirited insurance companies charging high rates, it’s simple math.  By asking our government to manage, and dispense healthcare for the entire country not only misses the real problem, but in this particular case where our leaders are less than honest about the amount of subsidized recipients in our country at this time is not only dishonest but very hurtful in the long run. Going forward with such an ill-conceived and shoddy plan just to user in a big government scenario will move us in a backward direction from reforming healthcare.  What it will do is take the focus from the problem of high and unaffordable healthcare costs and add a high price tag and inefficiency to the management and delivery of healthcare that is sure to confound the caregivers as well as its recipients, causing even higher healthcare costs that if we had done nothing. (For the record, I am not advocating doing nothing.)

This is shaping up to be a hard lesson for the American people in the dysfunction of collectivism, when contrasted with the free market, and is as un-American as it gets.  Many of my friends on the left like to claim the current condition of the high cost of healthcare is due to capitalism and the free market, but the true student of the markets today will attest to the evidence of too much government intervention and crony-capitalism as the problem.  Our government’s inability to let anybody make a dollar they can’t tax or regulate is at the root of our economic demise.  Coupled with the corruption and deceitfulness of our leaders, it’s no surprise we are awarded boondoggles like Obamacare.  So long as we elect leaders on likeability instead of principle, we will get what we pay for.  A news media unwilling to report the news as it happens, but instead tries to shape opinion rather than being loyal to journalistic protocol is almost as much to blame as the apathetic citizenry in our land.  The only hope we have against the socializing of our land is heavy pushback from its citizens.  No amount of blame or castigation at whom, or whatever the target of the day will make a bad idea work.  And so it is with Obamacare, it is simply indefensible.   

Like the line in the children’s cartoon “Finding Nemo” when Dory and Marlin come to the dark trench she says “When we come to this trench, we’re supposed to swim through it, not over it ...” in order to avoid the poisonous Jellyfish above. In the case of the US and Obamacare, rather than tackling the problem of costly healthcare itself we are taking the go over it approach and bunny trailing into the realms of socialism and condemning ourselves to re-living what history has already taught our European friends as being a socio-economic disaster.

In terms of awareness, younger, healthier people will be hurt the most by a government takeover of our healthcare system.  As the choices diminish, costs will rise and quality of care will drop.  With the administrative costs rising the moneys must come from somewhere, and the most likely target will be first the ratepayer, and when it’s not enough, the caregiver.  With less and less ability for doctors and nurses to attain a decent living from the medical industry, the incentive for the best young men and women to enter the medical industry will drop and the industry will suffer.  I am not making these statements to hear myself complain, as history in Europe and our neighbors to the north attests.  Of course these countries still have functioning healthcare, but the excellence that has been a hallmark of the United States will disappear.  People from all over the world come to our country to get the best medical care in the world, not because of the government’s involvement in any way, but in spite of it.

I it is my prayer and hope that Obamacare is the catalyst that awakens the American people and brings them to a single voice of reason that will change our leader’s direction.  I learned long ago the truth I heard in a saying from a safety seminar I attended:  “ The highest level of performance you can expect from your employees is the least that you demand…”  In our case the “employees” are our elected leaders, and they must know we are asleep at the wheel, judging by their antics.  Our level of political participation will dictate what they do and how they act.  There will always be forces trying to subvert our traditional values and the Constitution, but they will only succeed if good men and women sit by idly. 

My case for Christianity (in my own words...)

     We all have acquaintances whose company we enjoy, but that doesn't mean we agree with everything the other holds as their beliefs.  Even spouses are subject to disagreement in many areas, that’s what makes marriage interesting and wonderful.  I have many friends close and casual, and of the friends I am blessed with, the closer the bond, the less time we spend discussing the areas we disagree on.  However, with the advent of social media, I have other friends that enjoy discussing almost exclusively the things we don’t have in common.

This has become a source of entertainment and enjoyment as I have always been one to wonder what makes things tick, including other humans and myself as well.  Having discussions of religious and political content can become very heated and frustrating sometimes, but the people I share with are very good about keeping the discussions we have from interfering with our camaraderie’s.

One topic that always piques my interest is the discussion of the existence of God.  My fellow social media-ites and I seem to get into an exchange regarding God’s existence, and their insistence He doesn't.  

The discussion usually goes something like this:

 Me: “Our God is an awesome God and I thank Him for saving a wretch like me.”

My social media buddies: “There is no god, only weak minded people need a crutch like an imaginary deity.”

Me: “Bite me you ungrateful wretches, God created and sustains everything.”

Media buddies: “Oh yeah… prove it.”

Me: “the Bible says… “(And I quote off a bunch of verses that remind us God created and sustains everything)

Them: “The bible is a book of inconsistencies” and then they go on to recite the 3^rd law of thermodynamics, or some such pointy headed information as their proof that we came into existence from navel lint, or whatever their argument entails and the discussion is reduced to a battle of each of us regurgitating the proofs we hold to be evident to us, and the claims that the other won’t listen to the “truth”. 

This is frustrating to me as I am not a very adept debater, but I love to talk about and discuss differences between people.  In my observation, in a battle of words, neither person can successfully convince the other that conclusive evidence exists to either prove God exists to the non-believer, or prove He doesn't to the believer.  So it seems to me if that is the case, it becomes a matter of the next best thing or other evidences that either elevate or reduce the position held by either arguer. 

Being of a pragmatic school of thought, I am always interested in what yields the best outcome for the given purpose something has, or what demonstrates the most compatible outcome when being exercised.  This is where I believe God and Christianity prove to be the most logical, and compatible to human existence, therefore bolstering the fact that God’s Word is in fact from God and not just a collection of human ideas that “just work”. 

If you were to set up an amoral society purposely, one of two things would happen: it would destroy itself, or adopt moral limitations that allow it to survive or even flourish.  God’s Word is chock full of specific moral imperatives that if practiced to a tee, would sufficiently enable any society to flourish.  I don’t think the same can be said for amoralism, or an anarchistic approach to moral behavior. 

And since the evidences either side can present are of knowledge that can only be known within the confines of what man can grasp, by weighing the knowledge God’s Word can impart against the knowledge man can know at the time of the argument, only the knowledge that can produce tangible fruit can be trusted as reliable in my pragmatic way of thinking.  To put one’s faith in another scientist’s theory, or perceived knowledge that may or may not be accurate because of the relative “newness” of claims or limitations of knowledge of the given time could be spiritually and morally disastrous.   In addition, the knowledge man calls truth today will surely change in time to come as he gains greater understanding, and insight, of what he is studying. 

 Consider the absolute worst thing that would happen if we lived in a truly theocratic society using the Biblical guidelines.  People would live a moral and productive life by following all the edicts in the Bible.  On the other hand, the lack of adherence to a specific moral code of conduct and the propensity of man to deceive his fellow man for ill-gotten gain is evident in the world in which we live today.

Who is to say that the scientists of tomorrow won’t be faced with even more concrete evidence that we are living in a world designed and maintained by a Creator?  To me it seems ludicrous to claim to be a scientist and completely rule out an entire avenue of thought held by previous generations, as a matter of convenience and rebellion.  It seems as though a specific outcome of thought is the idea, not scientific truth.

My compatriots always throw the idea that religion has been the impetus for wars and murder over the many years of history.  I take this to be a broad stroked claim that lacks specific definition so that in a casual conversation it tries to lay that claim at the foot of Christianity.  Anyone knows throughout the millennia that historical records have been kept that there have been wars and slaughter in relation to many causes, many of which were perpetrated in the name of religion to lull the masses into a false belief that the warring party was supported in their quest for blood.  Even our leaders of today erect false flags to insight our allegiance to their causes for war, and so I believe it has been with many of the so called “Religious” wars.  The world has known many a tyrant that has invoked the name of God or a reference to the Bible as a means to their end.   However, if anyone cares to heed Jesus Words, you can see a much different and far clearer picture of how God would have us interact with each other. 

I wrote this as a way to try to break the verbal “stalemate” I always seem to find myself in when addressing my atheistic friends.  They like to try to set the tone of the discussion as their knowledge being the ultimate wisdom, and the ownness of proof being on my belief in God  being on trial against the pop-cultural wisdom,  but to me their grasp of knowledge is the least reliable and most prone to change over the course of time.

The pragmatic and time tested results are the tangible evidence that God’s Word is true, and continues to remain unchanged.

What is the real conspiracy...

I've read stories and seen videos of people convinced martial law is eminent in the USA and there are FEMA imprisonment camps just waiting for UN military forces to fill with non-conformists rebelling from the implantation of the upcoming “New World Order”.  As a student of the Bible, I am very aware of the apocalyptic description of the end of the “end times”, and the similarities of the claims of the present day prognosticators of doom.  For the most part, I have assumed the “Infowars” type conspiracy guys were well meaning, but a little nuts, and while history is following the cycle it does, just as it has many times before in strong cultures like ours, I had hoped this cycle would be like Hitler, and have a relatively short shelf life, and in a generation or so get back on track. 

But in recent years of not understanding what has happened to the country I love, with much hand ringing and thought, I have come to believe this country is coming to a point that may make it very unlikely to return to the life style that has been afforded my generation as well as the previous ones.  I will never concede defeat, but being pragmatic, I must admit the likelihood of this present culture that refuses embrace the kind of restraint and economic discipline that would be required to return our nation to a state of operation like we have enjoyed in previous years, leaves a slim hope.  Our leaders of late, both Democrat and Republican have not produced leader that doesn't kick the can a little further down the road.

 I realize there are many like-minded people that feel similarly, and also watch seemingly helplessly, as the country we grew up loving, erodes into a land of apathy, low participation, and low information as each generation progresses, at least in terms of the how’s and why’s our country has become the most desirable place on earth for people to immigrate to.

We sit at home (at least I do…) listening and watching the news media as delivered to us in the main forms and outlets on the radio, TV, print, and on the internet, and form our picture of the world beyond us and how our leaders are running our government and interacting with the rest of the world.  The usual  “news” suspects being the network and cable news services and the newspapers that have mostly all gone to the web.  The word “conspiracy” has become notorious as “kooky” or far-fetched, and is used in conjunction with views not aligned with these news stories associated with the main stream media.  Everybody has their “pet” news source, and is comfortable with the delivery of the information they receive from them, even sympathetic to it.  Most information outlets have become very biased in their delivery of the news stories they share.  The people on the right, say the left leaning news organizations are “biased, and vice versa. 

This is my opinion, but I have come to the idea that we as citizens of this great nation can really know very little in actuality of the accurate events and the goings on outside our areas of travel on our own.  I also can imagine that if there were a great force wanting to change our nation’s position of strength, they most certainly wouldn't want to confront us head on, so how would they do it?  How has it been done before?   Looking at relatively recent (in the last couple of hundred years…) historical evidence, one can point to Nazi Germany, Red China, and the USSR, to name a few that have had such radical change in their countries.  I believe, propaganda, and the control of information dissemination is the foothold tyrannical movements have had in common in creating the climate to transform a country or culture to a completely different way of life.  Unfortunately, the other tell-tale ingredient has been slowed, or absent economic activity in those very same cultures as the change was brought to bear.  I find it very ironic in thinking in those terms to watch as our country has under gone and maintained a stifled, and stagnant economic state, like has never been seen  since the 1930’s, with leaders that do nothing to abate the condition.  In fact, in speaking of those wonderful news sources we have here in the states, our leaders are spending money at a break-neck pace with no sign of slowing.  So much so, our dollar is becoming worthless and our Federal Reserve is printing money and charging 0% interest to our government in order to facilitate the continued spending spree and rest of the world is tiring of American dollars that are becoming less and less valuable.

Meanwhile, we, in our conditioned state, are not only entertaining the idea but, repeating that one political group that has drawn a line in the sand are “extreme” for making a stand to stop the insanity.  I use the word “insanity” heavily as the idea of the amount of debt our country is amassing is rapidly coming to a head, that will not end well, unless…

This is where the conspiracy ideology sometimes makes so much sense to me it is scary.  What if our country has been slated by whomever the evil globalists are to be drastically reduced in economic power, and standing in the world, and the need created to not only be governed by a central world government, but be bank rolled by one too? 

As I have become disillusioned by the political parties of today, I have begun to distrust the Republicans as well as the Democrats.  Being pragmatic, I have of late tried to imagine the motivation in modern politics, as I cannot use the same standard for either party as I did before and have turned to my conspiratorial friends to draw upon now.

I wish I had an epiphany, to share for those of you whom have stayed the course reading this long-winded rant, but all I am going to leave you with is my even stronger conviction that God’s Word is more dependable than I  have the ability to understand, and that the world we live in today is filled with deception, so much so, I am losing my will to argue politics as it seems moot, since it is probably all a production to deceive us into a mental wild goose chase of emotion and division.  So if we don’t have sound information being delivered to us what are we to believe?  I have adopted a quote from a Jewish leader of many, many years ago, giving an ultimatum to his people saying: “if serving the LORD seems undesirable to you, then choose for yourselves this day whom you will serve, whether the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites, in whose land you are living. But as for me and my household, we will serve the LORD.”  In the case of the United States one might well replace “the gods your ancestors served beyond the Euphrates, or the gods of the Amorites” with the revisionism of our country’s history taught today, or the idea that a collective government of the future is the answer to man’s dilemma.

Beware of Russians Bearing Advice...

Have you read the op-ed in the NY Times labeled as being written by Vlad Putin?  It oozes emotional appeal and socialist underpinnings.  I believe if he indeed wrote this, he is appealing to the globalists and liberals that see the free market and Capitalism as a bad thing. 

There are many points to discuss but at first glance the points that stand out are:

United Nations being of utmost importance.  The UN is a nice formal way to facilitate social events and coordinate operations of countries doing joint operations, but it is in no way superior, or even close to the United States own ability to rule itself and by the UN’s idea of a league of nations opposes nearly everything the USA stands for.  We will and always have made our own decisions.  Our system of government  has proven itself to be the most successful.  Of late the players and corruption have caused our form of government to fail.  The players are corrupted not the system, history clearly shows that.

In his Op-ed piece Putin says “No one doubts the use of nerve gas, but it was the rebels not the Syrian government.”  To me if that were true, how could Assad assure anybody he can turn control of the gas to any global organization if he doesn’t fully control it?  Believe me, this is never going to happen.  They may do something symbolic, but that’s all.  Russia is their ally and could possibly have given the nerve gas to them.

Toward the end of the piece he (Putin) voices his disagreement with Mr. Obama and his speaking of
American exceptionalism.    This echoes his allegiance to the communism of this past leaders and government.  Socialism, and communism’s worst enemy and their Kryptonite are individualism and excellence.  As echoed by modern liberalism promoting competition free outcomes so no one has to lose.  Sameness of outcome in almost all things they control, under the guise of “fairness” and “equality”.  In the United States we already enjoy the utmost freedoms of any place on earth, not because we guarantee the sameness of outcomes for everybody, but our form of government allows for anybody to strike out on their own and seek to excel at anything they want to put their time and resources toward.  I admit it is increasingly tougher to attain success in private industry as no sooner than you announce your plan to become a for profit entity our beloved government becomes a silent partner by force and threat of retaliation.  Their partnership is in your profits and never in the liabilities, but we can overcome even their intrusions.  If we succumb to becoming a part of the rest of the world and their regulation we will continue to have to “dumb down” or economy and our dominance in the economic arena.  I believe the world would be a worse place without our leadership.  Having said that, there are many corrupt aspects of our government that the world wouldn’t miss as well.

Bottom line:  This is not a man or country we should trust.  We have nothing to gain by joining the “We are the world” brigade.  They have the potential to topple the world’s strongest nation.  We are in a little bit of a nose dive, due largely to a leader that isn’t.  But hopefully we can shed ourselves of him and his ilk and get a leader that is decisive and strong and get back on track.  This kind of foreign affairs faux pas is very reminiscent of the presidency of Jimmy Carter and the Iranian hostages.  The hostages had been held and bandied about for months, while an inept Carter tried the same limp wristed diplomacy that Obama is using, but within 5 days of Ronald Reagan’s election, they released the hostages with no complications.  Our enemies watch closely for our weaknesses, and like undisciplined children, push to the limit.  Now our adversary, Russia is sounding more American than our president, which in my opinion is a scam of monumental proportion and demands keen leadership more now than ever.